Archive for oktober, 2014

When fashion becomes cyclical, Ikea could be the company that could come in and break the mould

Swedish author and business thinker Stefan Engeseth predicts that Ikea’s next move will be into the world of fashion.
Mr Engeseth says that Ikea’s expertise lends itself easily to the world of apparel. ‘Fashion is an expression of how to package and sell design,’ he says.
He believes that fashion is in a repetitive cycle, stuck in history and needing renewal.
Ikea could offer both complete apparel items and composite parts that customers could assemble themselves, says Mr Engeseth. The parts could be “tailored” at home in inventive ways without the need for complex sewing.
‘Emotionally, this connects people to how life was in the beginning,’ he says. ‘Customers can personalize and “hack” the designs.’
Jack Yan, publisher of the fashion magazine Lucire, and a branding expert in his own right, says Mr Engeseth’s ideas have a great deal of merit.
‘This taps in to its existing fan base, and just as importantly, Ikea can make full use of its channels, outmanœuvring many existing fashion labels,’ says Mr Yan. ‘Ikea has an international retail base and it has distribution down to a fine art.’
For completed clothing, Mr Engeseth says that Ikea could offer Unisex dressing, without the divisions of male and female, but as an ‘Ikea member’.
He sees Ikea clothing as being high-tech and low-cost, harder-wearing than the apparel found in mass-market retailers.
‘We’re already seeing some shoppers go to outdoor and living stores to buy longer-lasting clothing. Ikea already sells reusable Kr 4 bags that are good and cheap; their clothes could be equally practical, as strong as work clothes,’ he says.
‘You could even extend this hard-wearing philosophy into wedding gowns—after all, there are already some people opting to get married in Ikea stores.’
Mr Engeseth says Ikea could offer the clothing range to its fans first, so they have a “uniform”, much like football teams.
‘There are 57 million Ikea “family members” already, so let them be the only ones who can buy the clothes first. This would be the longest catwalk ever.’
He goes further, saying that those wearing Ikea clothing could qualify for greater discounts at the point of sale. ‘Not only will this build their tribe, it will “dress it up” to become a worldwide community.’
Fans who have furnished their homes could host ‘Ikea days’, where dressed-up fans could invite their friends to their homes, which become pop-up fan showrooms. ‘That could give Ikea millions of stores, and greater exposure to how homes can be designed. That would bring in sales and the company could treble its profits,’ he says.

About Jack YanJack Yan founded Jack Yan & Associates. Among his company’s interests are business consulting, software and media, including the fashion magazine brand Lucire. He has authored or contributed to numerous books, including Beyond Branding, Typography and Branding and Nation Branding: Country Concepts and Cases. He ran for Mayor of Wellington in 2010 and 2013. His personal site Jack Yan.

I predict that Apple will introduce their own currency a year after their launch of ApplePay. With the new AppleCurrency Apple can make cash on the demand. Today their brand does not live up to its demand.

Apple has created a shopping system in which all the products are connected to the system and to each other. This connection adds value to each product. Today demand is greater than what Apple is capable to live up to. Other brands are earning millions because of the huge demand that Apple creates but can not deliver. In such situations it is often profitable to change the business model, our contribution to changing the business model is an idea that is easy to monetize on.

A revolution should be led by Icon brands as Apple
Under the surface our economic system is questioned. Further, the economic system is not stable enough. It’s only a matter of time before a mighty corporation creates their own currency. Apple could lead that currency revolution and change history once again.

Steve Jobs changed the world and learned us that to Think different leads to development and change. We asked the talented designer Joachim Nordwall to design the visionary idea of an Apple coin as a tribute to the legend.

Also we hope that the message Think different on a coin, will inspire consumers to make a change with their consumption.

The digital AppleCurrency could be used on the Apple website but also in other online stores, and not least in the offline world as a common currency.

From: Connect the dots to AppleDots?
Certainly, many would give this currency and coins the nickname AppleDots linked to Steve Jobs classic statement: Connect the dots. Whatever it is called, Apple can with their own currency make the world spin around their Apple. If Apple in their ‘shopping system’ strategy makes the value of consumption increase with their currency, the revolution is a fact that would make the legend smile for an eternity.

Download Apple coin and print directly in a 3D printer
Then go and test shopping with the coins in the nearest store or Apple store. If you don’t have a 3D printer there are companies as Shapeways that can help you print them. Download images and 3D formats of the Apple coin for free.

One might question the point of creating an currency when consumers anyway can pay with ApplePay?
Well, we would like to state that money creates money and Apple could with their own currency control and increase their profits. The opportunity to grow as a company with their own currency is far beyond their current resources. We see a million possibilities, but surely you’ll see more and Apple itself has surly internally a lot of ideas, so we’ll leave the rest to them and you.

PS Apple owns of course their own brand and this idea is only an idea, but most of all it is our tribute to Steve Jobs. The value of the coin is up to you to evaluate, we do not warrant that the coins will legally work for shopping but if your mindset is Think different then anything is possible.